System and method for determination of vheicle accident information

ABSTRACT

Described herein is a system and method for determination of vehicle accident information. In accordance with an embodiment, a vehicle can be equipped with a portable device equipped with a data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices that used to capture data and information and otherwise measure characteristics of the vehicle, and communicate that information to an accident review framework or system. In the event of an accident, the information can be used, for example, by an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster, to review the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident. Additional uses of the system include that emergency systems management in handling of accidents and injuries can also be improved.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to both U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/840,383 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF VEHICLE ACCIDENT INFORMATION” filed on 27 Jun. 2013 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/846,203 tilted SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF VEHICLE ACCIDENT INFORMATION″ filed on 15 Jul. 2013 both of which are herein incorporated by reference. This application is related to U.S. Patent Application titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USE OF PATTERN RECOGNITION IN ASSESSING OR MONITORING VEHICLE STATUS OR OPERATOR DRIVING BEHAVIOR”, application Ser. No. 13/679,722, filed Nov. 16, 2012; which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/578,511, filed Dec. 21, 2011; each of which above applications are herein incorporated by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD OF INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention are generally related to in-vehicle systems and methods to detect, analyze and transmit information about an accident. The system monitors onboard sensors input then compares that input with predetermined stored relationships to detect accidents and assess damage. Accident and a damage assessment can then be wirelessly transmitted (if feasible) to interested parties such as first responders and insurance carriers.

BACKGROUND

Information about a vehicle, or its driver, has a bearing on factors such as liability insurance, and accident investigation. For example, in the event of an accident, it may be of interest to an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster to determine the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident.

SUMMARY

Described herein is a system and method for determination of vehicle accident information. In accordance with an embodiment, a vehicle can be equipped with a portable device equipped with a data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices that can be used to capture data and information or otherwise measure characteristics of the vehicle, and communicate that information to an accident review framework or system. In the event of an accident, the information can be used, for example, by an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster, to review the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident. Additional uses of the system include that emergency systems management in handling of accidents and injuries can also be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for determination of vehicle accident information, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 further illustrates a system for determination of vehicle accident information, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for determination of vehicle accident information, in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As described above, information about a vehicle, or its driver, has a bearing on factors such as liability insurance, and accident investigation. For example, in the event of an accident it may be of interest to an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster to determine the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident. An investigator or adjuster may also be interested in the estimated cost to repair the vehicle, or the likelihood or severity of personal injury to occupants of the vehicle.

To address this, described herein is a system and method for determination of vehicle accident information. In accordance with an embodiment, a vehicle can be equipped with a portable device equipped with a data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices used to capture data and information or otherwise measure characteristics of the vehicle, and communicate that information to an accident review framework or system. In the event of an accident, the information can be used, for example, by an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster, to review the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident, or to automatically summon emergency services, such as ambulance or police, taking into account the nature or severity of the accident.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for determination of vehicle accident information, in accordance with an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment, a driver 100 of a vehicle 101 can use an accident information collection/assessment system 103, which can be provided all or in part as a portable device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, computer, or other portable device), and which is equipped with a data collection and assessment environment 104.

In accordance with an embodiment, the assessment system can itself include one or more data collection devices 106 (e.g., speedometers, accelerometers, GPS, gyroscopes, compass, or other measurement devices) that can be used to capture data and information, such as speed and heading, or otherwise measure vehicle actions, together with a data collection and assessment logic 108. A pattern recognition module 118 is configured with one or more defined operating patterns, each of which operating patterns reflects either a known change in vehicle status, or a known vehicle operating or driving behavior. For example, a vehicle responds in a physically-measurable manner to driver-based driving actions, e.g., by the driver turning the vehicle sharply at a corner. An accelerometer can be similarly used to register the sudden deceleration or impact of a collision, and its direction. This enables the system to associate patterns with certain vehicle status or operations, or with historical records for a particular vehicle or for similar vehicles.

In accordance with an embodiment, an accident Information collection/assessment module 123 can be used to collect information about accidents, or compare current patterns of driving, patterns of previous collisions, or other information, with known patterns to assess a particular accident. For example, a collision pattern might take into account the mass of a vehicle together with its direction and speed, an abrupt stop (indicative of a collision), plus the make, year, and condition of the vehicle. As another example, a driving pattern might take into account speed, swerving, acceleration, tracking of lane, etc of the vehicle. In accordance with various embodiments, other types of patterns can be considered. The resultant information can be remotely communicated to an external accident review framework or system 130, where the information can be used, for example, by an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster, to review the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident.

In accordance with an embodiment, the information collected and/or generated by the accident review framework or system, can be used to assess the severity and type of accident, and/or to classify the accident in terms of severity and vehicle type, to be able to make an assessment of damage to the vehicle. This provides an insurer with improved management of their claims process, and also helps to reduce insurance fraud. Additional uses of the system include that emergency systems management in handling of accidents and injuries can also be improved. The method of assessing damage provides utility both in the direct impact analysis, and also in the historical compilation of similar patterns' costs, based on the range and average for a particular car, at this speed and with these readings of, e.g., gyroscope and accelerometer.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can incorporate or utilize additional functionality as further described in U.S. Patent Application titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USE OF PATTERN RECOGNITION IN ASSESSING OR MONITORING VEHICLE STATUS OR OPERATOR DRIVING BEHAVIOR”; application Ser. No. 13/679,722, filed Nov. 16, 2012, herein incorporated by reference.

FIG. 2 further illustrates a system for determination of vehicle accident information, in accordance with an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, during use, the data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices, is used to capture data and information or otherwise measure characteristics of the vehicle, and provide those to an external accident review framework or system. In accordance with an embodiment, the external accident review framework or system can be used to collect or determine accident history and statistical data 140 (for example, vehicle make and model, device installation location, average cost of claim, images of damage, and/or a list of damaged components); perform an analysis of historical and statistical data 150 (for example, analysis of past claims, approximate g-force, estimated cost, and/or impact severity); and consolidate results or relation to live statistics 160 (for example, consolidation of reported accident data, reporting of g-force, averaging of claims history and estimated costs, estimation of trauma severity). The consolidated results or relation to live statistics can be provided to an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster, to assist in determining the status or operation of the vehicle at the time of the accident, and/or review any insurance claim by the Accident Review Framework 130.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for determination of vehicle accident information, in accordance with an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, at step 182, a vehicle is provided with a data collection and assessment environment and one or more data collection devices. At step 184, in the event of an accident, the data collection and assessment environment remotely communicates vehicle data and information to an external accident review framework or system. At step 185, accident history and statistical data is determined. At step 186, historical and statistical data is analyzed. At step 188, the system consolidates results, relation to live statistics, for use by an investigator or an insurance claims adjuster, to determine the status or operation of the vehicle at the time of the accident, and/or review any insurance claim.

The present invention may be conveniently implemented using one or more conventional general purpose or specialized digital computers or microprocessors programmed according to the teachings of the present disclosure, or a portable device (e.g., a smartphone, tablet computer, computer or other device), equipped with a data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices (e.g., accelerometers, GPS) or where the portable device are connected to the data collection devices that are remote to the portable device, that are connected via wired or wireless means. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the software art.

In some embodiments, the present invention includes a computer program product which is a non-transitory storage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used to program a computer to perform any of the processes of the present invention. The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical discs, DVD, CD-ROMs, microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAM5, flash memory devices, magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or data.

The foregoing description of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with various modifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated. For example, although the illustrations provided herein primarily describe embodiments using vehicles, it will be evident that the techniques described herein can be similarly used with, e.g., trains, ships, airplanes, containers, or other moving equipment, and with other types of data collection devices. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalence. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for determination of vehicle accident information, comprising: a data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices used to capture data and information and otherwise measure characteristics of the vehicle, and communicate that information to an accident review framework or system, so that in the event of an accident, the information can be used to review the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the captured data and information is acquired from sensors on-board the vehicle wherein the sensors can include: one or more accelerometers, a gyroscope, an airbag sensor, speedometer, GPS, and a compass.
 3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a pattern recognition module, wherein the captured data and information are compared to historical patterns that are indicative of accidents, driving behavior, and collisions.
 4. The system of claim 3 wherein the identified patterns in the captured data and information are reported to the accident review framework.
 5. The system of claim 4 wherein the historical pattern is an accident pattern which is determined from at least one of: vehicle speed, mass of the vehicle, direction of the vehicle, abrupt stopping of the vehicle and, the make, year and condition of the vehicle.
 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the information about accidents is related to an assessment and classification of the severity and type of accident.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein the information and assessments are one of: displayed within the vehicle and transmitted to emergency personal and accident investigators.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more data collection devices are contained within a single portable device.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein the single portable device also contains the data collection and assessment environment.
 10. The system of claim 1 wherein the accident review framework is remote from the vehicle wherein data communications between the data collection and assessment environment and the review frame is wireless.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the accident review framework further comprises a historical and statistical database used to determine patterns and assess and classify accident severity and type and wherein captured data and information for each accident event are included in the database for future pattern determination, assessment and classification.
 12. The system of claim 11 wherein the database further comprises information related to each accident event including as least one of: vehicle make and model, images of vehicle damage, cost of repair, and a list of damaged components, number and extent of injuries to passengers, and, the number of passengers.
 13. A method for determination of vehicle accident information, comprising: providing a data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices used to capture data and information or otherwise measure characteristics of the vehicle, and communicate that information to a provided accident review framework or system, so that in the event of an accident, the information is available for use to review the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the captured data and information is acquired from sensors on-board the vehicle wherein the sensors can include: one or more accelerometers, a gyroscope, an airbag sensor, speedometer, GPS, and a compass.
 15. The method of claim 13 further comprising providing a pattern recognition module, wherein the captured data and information are compared to historical patterns that are indicative of accidents, driving behavior, and collisions.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the identified patterns in the captured data and information are reported to the provided accident review framework.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein the historical pattern is an accident pattern which is determined from at least one of: vehicle speed, mass of the vehicle, direction of the vehicle, abrupt stopping of the vehicle and, the make, year and condition of the vehicle.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the information about accidents is related to an assessment and classification of the severity and type of accident.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the information and assessments are one of: displayed within the vehicle and transmitted to emergency personal and accident investigators.
 20. The method of claim 13 wherein the one or more data collection devices are contained within a single portable device.
 21. The method of claim 20 wherein the single portable device also contains the data collection and assessment environment.
 22. The method of claim 13 wherein the accident review framework is remote from the vehicle wherein data communications between the data collection and assessment environment and the review frame is wireless.
 23. The method of claim 13 wherein the provided accident review framework further comprises a historical and statistical database used to determine patterns and assess and classify accident severity and type and wherein captured data and information for each accident event are included in the database for future pattern determination, assessment and classification.
 24. The method of claim 23 wherein the database further comprises information related to each accident event including as least one of: vehicle make and model, images of vehicle damage, cost of repair, and a list of damaged components, number and extent of injuries to passengers, and, the number of passengers.
 25. A non-transitory computer readable medium, including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform the steps comprising: providing a data collection and assessment environment, including one or more data collection devices used to capture data and information or otherwise measure characteristics of the vehicle, and communicate that information to an accident review framework or system, so that in the event of an accident, the information is available for use to review the status or operation of a vehicle at the time of the accident. 